Gasperini’s comments ahead of Cagliari

Read what he had to say below.

How has Bryan Zaragoza settled in? How is he after these first few training sessions? Also, following Claudio Ranieri’s interview, would you like to see Francesco Totti join the club again one day?

“I’ll get him playing straight away, no problem, but he needs to train. We’ll take fifteen years off him (laughs, ed.). We’re getting to know Zaragoza. He’s trained with us a few times. He played regularly for Celta and he’s in decent shape but obviously he needs to get to know his new surroundings better. He’s available for tomorrow. I haven’t decided whether he’ll start, we’ll see, but the intention is to integrate new players quickly, partly to give them more opportunities and help them settle in faster.”

What did you think of Daniele De Rossi’s comments after Genoa v Napoli? And about football in general at the moment?

“It’s not about one team in particular, but all of them. I think as coaches we need to get together and make our voice heard in the world of football. I feel exactly the same way as Daniele and all the other coaches. We don’t like this type of football. The fans don’t like it. There’s confusion. It’s horrible to watch matches with strange bookings, penalties that the public can’t see, obvious simulations from players, benches jumping up and down provoking the referees. Perhaps we as coaches need to do something useful too. Teams are starting to get people in from the word of refereeing to teach players how to stay on the ground, how to behave if they are touched, when the ball is headed away, to stay on the ground. Football is a fair game, so this is a far cry from sport. Trying to cheat to get a card, a penalty, a booking or a red card doesn’t happen in any other sport. I watched the rugby yesterday, which was amazing. There are interests at stake in football but maybe Daniele was right in that something has to start with the coaches so that we can change this system that is so harmful to our sport. I no longer recognise myself in this sport, which I have always played, and I don’t know why we need to reduce our sport to try to cheat.”

I’d like to go back to the question of the team’s growth, especially in terms of its ability to react and come back in matches. What are your assessments on this journey and the mental strength of the team?

“I’ve never had any doubts about it. The lads have always responded well. Sometimes, like in Udine, we’ve had a bit of bad luck while on other occasions we haven’t managed to pull it off and have had lots of games end 1-0 without us being able to come back. Perhaps we need to improve a little in the air. This is crucial because lots of games are settled, turned around or won in the final few minutes in this way. It’s clear that there’s a technical aspect we need to improve on, but in terms of motivation, this team has always responded really well and that will stay the same in the upcoming matches too.”

Roma have shown their solidity the whole season. Do you expect the same reaction now that you’ve slipped out of the top four?

“Even more so because what we’re trying to do goes beyond the here and now. We always try to tackle each match and resolve the problems that it presents. I have to say, in January we played ten matches, basically from 29 December against Genoa to 2 February against Udinese. They were ten extremely hard matches, many of them difficult in terms of numbers too because we lost quite a few players and we were in a bit of an emergency. I remember Lecce, I remember Athens, but then also all the others that we had to play in tricky situations. Players such as [Alessandro] Romano, [Antonio] Arena and [Mattia] Della Rocca all made their debuts. [Robinio] Vaz played whenever he was available as soon as he arrived. [Lorenzo] Venturino also played as soon as he arrived. Despite this, we’ve had a difficult time with a lot of absences, but we’ve always had great spirit and a desire to do well. Now we’ve earned the chance to play in the Europa League in March, we have a month of normalcy. We’ll try and get as many key players as possible to recover, but the intention, regardless of whether a match goes well or not, is always to present ourselves in the same way we’ve presented ourselves so far.”

Going back to what Ranieri said about renewals, how important will your input be in negotiations with players whose contracts are expiring?

“The negotiations are essentially due to a different economic position. I can't get involved. The club has needs and the players have needs. It's not a question of the players' value, but it’s exclusively about the economic side. It’ll be difficult, but I'm counting heavily on the players. It's not easy to reach the end of the season with four players out of contract and two on loan: six players in a team is a lot. However, knowing the players, I believe that we’ll always find strong motivation to continue on the path we’ve taken so far. These are players who are attached to Roma and, as the season progresses, this is a situation that, in some ways, I am not happy to find myself facing."

How is Evan Ferguson doing, given that he seems to be struggling to find consistency, partly due to his ankle problems?

"Ferguson has an ankle problem. It's the fourth sprain he's suffered. Last year, he was out for a year due to ankle surgery, so this is one of his biggest issues. We are trying to get him back on his feet, but every time he changes direction, he risks a minor sprain. He has one on each side, but the one that was operated on did not completely solve the problem. We are all working hard to try to get him back, but it is not easy for him to deal with this situation either. He goes from moments of happiness to moments in which he’s really unhappy and depressed. It takes weeks each time. If I’m not mistaken, the last time, he injured himself after lunging to avoid a photographer. When he was available, he was always used, but this is his problem. Actually, this year has been better than last year, when he practically never played.

What is the situation with the other injured players?

"[Mario] Hermoso has suffered a nasty bruise on the top of his foot, it's a haematoma. He's struggling to put his foot down and put his boots on, but we hope he'll be available next week, like [Paulo] Dybala. Dybala has suffered a bad bruise to his knee, but his ligaments are fine and it's nothing serious. Venturino had the flu and has recovered. [Matias] Soule has been suffering from groin pain for weeks, but with his spirit he always manages to recover and play. It's clear that he's not at his best. He's going through a new phase because he's playing a lot, which he hasn’t had before. This happens a lot to young players when they really up their playing time. It's not a serious condition. He's living with it. Some days he's better, some days he’s worse, but he'll get through it. Don't ask me about [Artem] Dovbyk, you know how it is. [Manu] Kone? Fingers crossed. He's working well. I don't think Vaz is a big problem, I think he'll join the team between Tuesday and Wednesday."

Speaking of Kone, the midfield seemed to sit a little deeper in Udine. Are you considering something different for tomorrow, or are you satisfied with the Bryan Cristante-Neil El Aynoui pairing? And with Zaragoza's arrival, could we see Lorenzo Pellegrini back in that role?

“At the moment, [Niccolo] Pisilli is also doing very well. They are three reliable players. Kone is not there, but all three are very reliable. All three can play. They can play in a two and then one can be subbed on. From this point of view, I feel quite covered. Pellegrini is versatile and in certain matches he could also be used in that role.”

I’d like to ask you about the UEFA list and the reasoning behind Angelino's exclusion. Can we now consider him a fully-fledged player at your disposal?

"Angelino has made excellent progress over the last ten days. He has gained over four kilograms in weight and his test results have also improved significantly. We are all convinced and hopeful that he will make a full recovery, first and foremost as a person, but also as a player. As we had no certainty about the timing, this decision was made for the UEFA list because we had to include three new players. The important thing, however, is that he recovers well and then, if it’s not possible to use him in Europe, he can start playing in the league. When I’m happy that he’s back to his former self, Angelino is an excellent player and we have lost a lot without him. We can't wait for him to return to the player he was before."

Looking at your opponent and the attacking difficulties that have emerged in some matches, how do you explain the games in which the team struggle to create chances and how do you correct his? In Cagliari, for example, we didn't see the best version Roma this season.

“I agree that it wasn't a good match in Cagliari, especially in the first half. Then we were down to ten men and lost in the final minutes from a corner, even though we could’ve at least got a draw. As for the fact that we've started scoring goals lately, in Udine we’d had a good average at that time. There were dangerous situations in Udine, especially in the second half, quite a few of them. These didn't always result in saves by the goalkeeper, but we often got into the penalty area without managing to find the right deflections. We created something more. We struggled in the first half because of the quality of our opponent. We conceded a bad own goal, and Udinese were dangerous almost exclusively with shots from outside the box. Matches last 90 minutes, and in those 90 minutes, I don't think we did any less than Udinese. We have to accept the result and improve. Tomorrow we’re playing against Cagliari again. The first leg was not a good game, and we have the opportunity to make amends. We are playing at home, and we’re fired up. It won’t be easy because Cagliari are in good form and are a difficult team to beat, but it is clear that we’ve got the motivation.”

When you mentioned players whose future at the club is uncertain at the end of the season, were you referring to contract renewals that need to be done first, transfers that didn't go through or loan deals?

"[Donyell] Malen is on loan, Venturino is on loan, Zaragoza is also on loan. Ferguson has a loan with a very high buy-back clause, so either you renegotiate or you make other decisions. These are very different situations. You know that, I don't need to explain it to you. The loan with option to buy formula is a good one, though. It's not ideal to have players who may not be part of the team the following year due to contractual requirements or other reasons. This is the first time I've been in a situation like this, but I'm counting on trust. Knowing these lads, I'm convinced they'll give their all until the end."

Bryan Cristante struggles to get off the pitch with so many different coaches. Why do you think that is? And regarding Evan Ndicka, have you noticed any physical difficulties in recent matches?

"In my opinion, Ndicka has played well. It's not easy to come back after Europe and especially after the Africa Cup of Nations, which is a very draining competition, both physically and mentally. However, he has settled back into the league and the team. It's clear that he too needs to recover his energy, but he’s still a reliable player. As for Cristante, I think his performances speak for themselves. Right now, he brings physicality in the air, shooting ability and great tactical intelligence to the team. The same goes for Ndicka and El Aynaoui, who played a number of games in the Africa Cup of Nations, ending with a fairly serious injury. Then there's Pisilli. That's who we have. You don't want Cristante to play (he says laughing, referring to the journalist, ed.)".

Marco Palestra is one of Cagliari's most dangerous players and caused us several problems in the first fixture. Have you thought of any tactics to limit him, perhaps by keeping Wesley higher up the pitch?

"Wesley wasn't there in the first game. In general, however, our wing-backs, Wesley and [Zeki] Celik, are capable of dealing with this type of situation. Palestra is a player who is doing very well. He has always been a valuable player, but this year he has grown tremendously. I know him, and I also know that if we manage to attack him, we can cause him difficulties, as is the case with all players. I agree that he is a very strong player in all aspects, both physically and technically, and he is destined to have a great career, ending up at very important clubs."